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Fragmented Lives (The Parody Pieces)
"Going Home"
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Copyright Info and Disclaimer.
"Neon Genesis Evangelion" is Copyright (c) 2003 by Gainax. All OTHER material is Copyright (c) 2003 their owners. All materials used for PARODY purposes.
"Altered Lives (The Parody)" and "Fragmented Lives (The Parody Pieces)" are Copyright (c) 2003 by DBM. This work is an Amateur, Non-Commercial work by an Anime/Manga Fan. This work was created in the Spirit of the Copyright Exemptions regarding Parodies and Satire.
If you like my work, you may keep a copy for your own personal records, but you may NOT post it on any websites/newsgroups, NOR may you include it in any printed publication for sale/public distribution. If printing out a copy for yourself or a friend, you may reformat it (paragraph spacing, page-breaks, font and font size, borders, bold/italic, etc) to fit the paper you use, but please do not change any of the actual words or wording in the document.
Sole web-posting at FanFiction.Net - Author's E-Mail address on File.
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Censorship Info and Disclaimer.
NOT Recommended for Children.
Intended for MATURE Audiences.
There are NO 'sex scenes', but, just like the original NGE series, the story will explore the results and side effects of such activities. Along the way, there'll be swearing, violence, drugs, Adult situations, and frank discussions of sex education/family planning information, as well as thoughts and opinions on the morals and ethics of sexual assault, dating, courtship, marriage, alternate sexualities, pregnancy, childbirth, parenthood, Family Values, etc.
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Fandom Alerts and Disclaimer.
AU Alert (Alternate Universe).
OOC Alert (Out Of Character).
ACC Alert (Author Created Character).
SI Alert (Self Insert - Author appears in the story as a character).
SPOILER Alert (May 'spoil' surprises in the Manga and Anime TV/Movies).
' ' denotes thoughts.
" " denotes speech.
* * denotes emphasis, or electronic communication.
denotes other method of communication.
--- denotes letters deleted for censorship reasons.
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Author's Ramblings – Sooner or later, everything must come to an end. We are all Mortal, and someday, we must all die.
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Fragment - Final Rest (2093 AD, Shakey is 92)
Decades passed…
The Children grew up, and had children of their own…
…And those children had children…
…And their children had children…
Shakey ATARI, age 92 years, lay in a hospital bed dying of invasive cancer, his body kept alive by machines.
His children, and their descendants had all been to see him over the past few days. All knew, this would be Shakey's last visit to the hospital.
His childhood friends, and the friends of his young manhood, were mostly gone by now. He was the last of them left alive, bar one. Their descendants though, had come to see him, and pay their respects…
Still, soon, it would be over…
Soon, he would finally be at peace…
The machines in the room made many noises. Together, they blended into a gentle background that soothed him, reminding him of another machine he knew…
A machine he'd been a vital part of…
Years ago… so many years ago…
He closed his eyes, letting his mind drift back along his life's path, remembering ghosts of times and friends long gone…
He smiled at the good memories, frowned at the hard memories, cried at the memories of the passing of so many of his loved ones. His childhood friends… his wife of thirty-five years… a daughter at sixteen…
All men have regrets in their life, 'For things not done, yet dreamed of, and things yet done, but poorly did…'
Shakey was no exception.
He had many regrets in his life…
But, there was one regret in particular…
"Mr. Atari?" a soft voice at his side interrupted his thoughts.
A young voice, a female voice, it made him think of the spring seasons of his youth. Who was this? Blinking away tears, he tried to focus his eyes.
A teenage girl stood beside his bed, wearing an old-fashioned school uniform, beneath a tousled, unkempt mass of sky blue hair.
Crimson eyes looked at him.
"Rave?" he whispered.
She nodded.
'How strange…' Shakey thought. Over the years, he'd memorised ALL the cosmetic variations the Clones had affected. As far as he knew, none of them still kept their natural colours on display like this…
Shakey squinted as he forced his eyes to focus on her. 'No, wait, she's only a child, she can't be one of them… A Fan of theirs perhaps?'
The Clones were successful musicians, and many Fans were imitating their appearance. 'No, wait… that was… what? Fifty years ago? In the Twenties?'
Confused by time and senility, he asked, "Which one are you, my dear?"
"I am the one who will take you home," she quietly replied.
"Take me home?" Shakey repeated, not grasping the meaning of her words, "There must be some mistake dear, I won't leave this room again… The doctors said so…"
Tears trickled down the girl's cheeks.
"Oh there, there! Child, please don't cry… It's all right…"
"You don't remember me do you?" she asked him.
"I'm sorry dear, I'm an old man, and my mind isn't what it used to be…"
Seeing the hurt look on the girls face brought a pain to his chest, "But if it's any good, you look like a girl I knew a long, long time ago…"
The girls face brightened, "Do you still remember her after all these years?"
"Yes…" he sighed, closing his eyes and smiling at a cherished memory, "She's one person I'll never forget… A lovely lady she was… Sweet and shy… Gentle… Brave…"
"D-Do you remember what happened to her?" stammered the girl.
Shakey opened his eyes and looked at her. She had her head bowed, so it was hard to tell, but, was the girl blushing?
"Yes…" he frowned, as the memory brought back the pain back, worse this time, "…of course I do, I can't forget…"
"Did you love her?" The girl asked, barely above a whisper.
"Oh yes! What wasn't to love?"
"Did you ever tell her you loved her?"
"No… I was too shy, too unsure of myself… Besides, in the time I knew her, I never knew her feelings for me…" the feeling of regret had become a sore tightness in his chest.
"Did you ever find out?"
"Oh yes… but too late, too late… She… went away…" the tightness in his chest began to cramp painfully.
Shakey suddenly turned to the girl, a sense of urgency in his look and voice, "Child, please take some advice from an old fool…"
He spoke quickly, trying to force understanding into her through his words.
"If you love someone, let them know, it doesn't matter if they love you in return or not, for it's more important to be ABLE to love another, than merely accept the love of another…"
Tears gleamed in his eyes, "And if you never tell them…" he gasped as the chest pains bit deep, "…it's hard to live wondering what might have been, if only you'd been brave enough…"
"So…" she leaned over him, "If I love someone, I should tell them?"
"Yes dear, and don't put it off, I remember when I was young, and I thought I had forever…" he grimaced in pain, from memory and chest cramp, "…but I didn't, and the chance left me…"
"In that case…" said the girl, sitting on the edge of his bed, "I will take your advice, while I have the chance…"
She brought her face close to his and looked into his eyes.
"I want you to know, I love you," she said.
"Me?" Shakey asked in pain-addled confusion, "Why would you love me?"
"Because regardless of what you thought of yourself, you cared for me, you shared with me, and you dared give me reason to live…"
Shakey was in pain, badly confused, and a little concerned… This girl, there was something not quite right about all of this, but he couldn't say just what…
A hallucination perhaps? The doctors had said his mind would 'wander' towards the 'end'.
"You don't fully remember, do you?" she stated sadly, "Perhaps this will help…"
She put her arms around him and hugged him.
Shakey started in surprise as he felt her touch. This was an hallucination?
The girl relaxed her hug, and laid her head against his shoulder, still holding him, not letting him go.
Shakey reached his trembling arms up and cradled the girl, much as he had cradled his great grandchildren when they had come to see him.
His breath was ragged now as strong pains lanced through his chest.
Should he call a nurse? No, if this was death, it was a D--N sight better than some he'd faced in his life, and if he had to die now, at least he had a girl in his arms that he could 'make-believe' was a loved one, lost long ago…
No, he wouldn't bother the Nurse…
The girl spoke softly, "Do you remember when you first saw this girl?"
"Yes…" he gasped, out of breath, "she was hurt, and I haa-had…" his voice failed.
"But didn't you see her before that, at the train station, standing in the street watching you?"
Shakey's eyes went wide… He'd never told anyone about that!
He looked at the girl in his arms, at the sweet smile he'd seen too few times when she'd been alive…
"R-Rave…" his heart beat a fading counterpoint to the monitor alarms.
"You still remember me!" she cried, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks.
She bent forward, and kissed him innocently on his lips, as all around them, one by one, the monitors 'flat lined'.
When the Medical staff arrived, there was nothing they could do, except write up the paperwork, and advise the next-of-kin.
The body was cremated, and the ashes stored in the family shrine.
The marker for Aesir's empty grave was altered to include Shakey's name as well.
Eventually, people stopped coming to pay their respects…
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Here ends the story of Shakey Atari…
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Fragment - Kinder Garden (2103)
On the outskirts of the city, there was a field of grave markers. Most were grave markers in name only, as no body lay beneath their monument.
Far from these reminders of lives lived, and now long gone, was a lush wooded field, near where a stream flowed into the ocean through a sandy beach…
Here, a group of toddlers played, watched over by their guardians.
Among the happy tots, was one brown haired chap who'd just fallen over, and banged his knee. As tots are wont to do, he began to wail…
A shadow fell over him, and he looked up as a familiar figure bent to tend his wounds. Cradled in pale arms, he was taken indoors, bandaged, and comforted, by one whose love for him he was assured of.
"…he okay?" came a small voice from the doorway. A red haired girl, with a blue haired one beside her, stood watching with worried faces.
"Yes," replied the gentle voice of their blue-haired comforter, "He will be fine, you can come and stay with him if you like…"
"okay," answered the child, as friends went to friend.
Rave stood silently, smiling serenely, at the sight of the three young children.
Despite all her powers, and what some misguided people thought, she was not God.
She could not give life to those already dead. She could not even help 'create' life as any normal woman could…
She could extend her own life. Indefinitely, if need be. She could not do the same for her friends. And without friends, who would want to live forever?
They had all left her, eventually.
Disease, Injury… All died…
Where possible, she tried to ease their final passage from this world, and perhaps retain some small token of their self within her own.
She knew them now.
She'd shared their lives.
All their secret hopes and dreams.
She loved them all.
Through them she had lived, as once she thought she never would.
But as she knew their Joys, she also knew their Pains…
Pains caused by lies, deceits, and cruel injustices no mortal hand could ever right.
There was little she could do to heal past wrongs.
But she had tried…
For the sake of one who was 'all' to her…
And for other friends she held in memories dear…
This current project had taken patience, over many long decades, but now…
Now they lived again…
Shakey, Aesir, Rave#2, Mazurka, Ritzy and the others.
Clones themselves now, their minds and bodies fresh and innocent of all the pain that went before, and the fear-filled memories they once had.
As the Rave Clones spent golden years tending their OWN substitute children, they often wondered if Dr Akatlover had felt like this…
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- - - THE END OF ALTERED LIVES - - -
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Author's Final Ramble (???) – There is a quote I read once, in the back of a comic book, it goes something like this…
'Yet, never one door shuts, but another opens, and the road goes ever on…'
Real Life, is insisting that I devote my attentions elsewhere. Since I don't know when or IF I'll get a chance to finish these stories, I'm putting what I've done so far up on the Internet.
I had fun writing what I have of Altered Lives… And while I don't know if I'll ever get time to finish the story, 'filling in the blanks' between these segments or not, I'm happy with what I have been able to get done.
Thank You All for reading, and for now at least, Good Night!
Yours, DBM – Monday, 12 May 2003 AD.
From Somewhere in Australia, the Land of Tree-Hugging Funnelwebs.
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